Accessible Housing Incentives

Design for Life C'villeis the first voluntary certification program in Virginia for Visit-Ability and Live-Ability in single family attached and detached homes located within the City of Charlottesville. Its guidelines apply to both new construction and the renovation of existing homes. Once a home has been certified as meeting program requirements, the City of Charlottesville will refund 25% of permit fees for visit-ability compliant structures, or 50% of permit fees for structures meeting live-ability standards.

What Visit-Ability?

A Visit-Able home has two basic design elements:

At least one building entrance on an accessible route; and

An accessible interior route connecting to at least one usable powder room or bathroom.

What is Live-Ability?

A Live-Ability home has:

At least one building entrance on an accessible route;

An accessible interior route connecting to at least one bedroom;

An accessible interior route connecting to at least one full bath;

An accessible interior route connecting to an accessible kitchen; and

Accessible controls and switches in all accessible interior routes and required usable spaces.

To learn more about the Design for Life C'ville program, and to download a copy of the Design for Life C'ville Guidelines, please visit the program webpage HERE.

The Virginia Livable Home Tax Credit Program

The Virginia Livable Home Tax Credit (LHTC) program provides state tax credits for building, purchasing, or remodeling homes and incorporating accessibility and universal design features. To qualify for the tax credit, a new home must include at least three universal design features, and a retrofitted existing home must include at least one universal design feature, such as: